BISHKEK -- A Kyrgyz court has sentenced a man to life in prison over an attack against a well-known Kyrgyz theologian.
Kadyr Malikov, the director of the Religion, Law, and Politics analytical center in Bishkek, survived the stabbing attack near his house on November 26.
Bishkek's Birinchi Mai District Court found Alibek Tilek-Uulu guilty on June 9 of attempted murder motivated by hatred and sentenced him the same day.
Tilek-Uulu refused to stand up and loudly said a prayer in Arabic when the judge was pronouncing the sentence.
He and another suspected attacker, Ryskul Beishenaliev, were detained in Turkey, from where authorities said they planned to go to Syria to join Islamic State militants there.
Tilek-Uulu was extradited to Kyrgyzstan in March.
Kyrgyz authorities have said that hundreds of Kyrgyz nationals are fighting alongside IS militants and other extremist Islamic group fighters in Syria and Iraq.
